Flying Dreams
by drowsyfantasy
Summary: Co-Authored with LeBratPrincess. Within the Not Over Yet universe. Caught in a snowstorm, Murdock and Charissa are forced to land in the middle of nowhere. No pairing.
1. Chapter 1

Murdock would never admit out loud that he took anything for granted. Anyone who knew him would insist the crazy pilot took everything and nothing for granted at the same time, because they couldn't figure him out. He was comfortable with that. If somebody figured you out, he thought, you'd blink out of existence because there'd be nothing about you that somebody else didn't know. And if somebody else knew everything about you, what was the point in your existence?

He didn't take his team for granted. They had gone through some pretty intense situations that involved coming very close to dying. He didn't take for granted any of their relationships - he'd earned their respect, their trust, as much as they'd earned his.

Someone who had yet to earn his trust, though, was Charissa Sosa.

Not that he didn't like her. Ever since she'd helped them escape all those months ago, and continued to help them with missions, he'd decided that she was really all right and that he wouldn't have to stop Face from making a Very Bad Decision. She seemed dependable. Reliable. And yet something nagged at the back of his head. He still didn't know if he could trust her to keep them. Hannibal brushed off his concerns and B.A. just shook his head. Face would have none of it. "You're being paranoid," he'd say, "stop it."

Murdock would go back to his little self and wonder.

It had been a couple of weeks since the whole gig of taking down the Human Trafficking ring. She had gone back before her superiors, lied through her teeth and was put back to work. But she knew they were watching, she wasn't stupid, it was one of the reasons why she had laid low for a couple of weeks, kept away from LA. But now she was missing him, she needed him and she was missing the others too. They had become such a part of her life now that if she went too long without their company it felt like something was missing and she couldn't keep still. She was home; a quiet evening as she tried to look up any available flights to LAX. Nothing. She frowned, there wasn't even anything leaving a nearby base that had a seat she could grab. She eyed the cell phone that contained only one number and drummed her nails for a moment in thought; maybe he could come to her? No. Bad idea, especially since right now she knew she was under the microscope. With a sigh she picked up the phone and hit send… a part of her wondering what ring he heard on his end when she called.

When Cyndi Lauper's _Girls Just Want to have Fun_ began to ring from his phone, Murdock looked at it in astonishment. "El Diablo?" he breathed, before picking it up and answering it. He'd never gotten a call -outside of a mission- from Sosa, why was she calling him now? "I'm sorry, but you have reached a disconnected number - now if you feel you've reached this recording in error, how do you think I feel?"

"Murdock?" She blinked, removed the phone from her ear looked at it and then put it back to her ear, "Um… I meant to call Face, how did I get you?" This was new, maybe Face had his phone off and somehow it forwarded to Murdock's phone, she didn't even know Murdock had a cell.

"He turned on his call forwarding." Murdock tilted his head, leaning on an elbow. "Faceman and the others are off doing hero stuff. I can pass on a message, if you want."

She nodded slowly, "Ah. Well… I don't exactly have a message, more of a problem." And then an idea hit her, "Are you doing anything too exciting? I was going to come out a visit but I can't grab a flight. Everything's booked." Why not? She trusted Murdock and it would be a nice surprise for Face when he got done being a hero to come home and find her waiting for him.

"Not Air Murdock." he said, with a little smile on his face. Ever since the others had ditched him to go on a smaller mission that didn't need air back-up, he'd been lounging around their latest safe-house being bored. "Where are you, I'll pick you up."

She smiled, "D.C. I'll meet you at the same hanger you picked Face and I up at a couple of weeks ago?" She suggested, standing to go and make sure she had everything she needed, "So, see you in a few hours?" There was excitement in her tone.

"Absolutely!" he hung up with a grin and jumped off the tree branch he'd been hanging from, slipping down to the ground and eyeing the airfield he'd been observing for hours, watching the planes take off and land. He made his way to the transport vehicle entrance and then hopped into an unattended luggage cart.

She got things packed up and made a small side trip to the mall and picked up that IPod she had been promising and some CDs. After what turned into the perfect way to pass the waiting time of a few hours, Charissa left the mall after packing few newly purchased items into her suitcase and headed for the airport. She parked her car behind the hanger and grabbed her stuff wondering what sort of aerial machine the Pilot had commandeered this time.

Stealing the plane seemed almost too easy. It was a small airport, an airstrip barely guarded at all - and nobody seemed to mind that he was in the plane until it actually took off. A farmer ran out of the nearby barn waving his pitchfork, but didn't give chase once the plane was flying.

He landed cautiously in an area away from the main strips and taxied towards the hangars. He climbed out and was greeted by some mechanics, whom he let work on fuelling up before poking his nose around in an attempt to locate Sosa.

She turned the corner and there he was and so was the plane, it was a small. She gulped a little but strode forward, "Perfect timing." She held out a gift bag to him, "I got you something." She said with a smile, hoping he would enjoy the IPod Touch and the CDs. The CDs were collections from different decades.

"Ooooooooh!" he did a little excited dance, pulling the iPod out of the bag. "You did! And the selection, thanks!" he was looking at the collection and closed the bag with a smile. "Thank you. Your ride awaits, milady!" he gestured to the plane. The mechanics had left by now.

She grinned and followed him, "Seriously, thank you for this." She held back a frown when she realized she'd have to sit in the co-pilot's seat, she didn't mind flying… she just wasn't fond of smaller air craft. She put on a brave face however after securing her things and settled into the seat and strapped herself in, "So… this is going to be fun." She gave a nervous smile and took a deep breath to relax.

"Hopefully..." he turned his head to her, adjusting the microphone on his seat back. "Are you all right? You look a little pale."

"I'm good. I've just never been much for smaller planes." She licked her lips, "But I trust you." She gave him an assuring smile and tried not to grip her arm rests too tightly as they taxied off.

Murdock grinned as he pulled back on the throttle and gently eased them into the air. "Take-off and landing may be a bit rougher than you're used to," he admitted, "but I promise you'll survive it."

She nodded, "Alright." He was right about the rough take off, but she did indeed survive, "So what are they doing? Why didn't you go with them?" She was making conversation, trying to make the time pass and to distract herself from any little bumps and jolts that might happen as they flew.

"It's like when people call the fire trucks to get a cat out of a tree." he said in a dry voice. "Small-time thing. No air support needed." he was looking down at the controls every once in a while to monitor their travel.

"Oh. Does it bother you when you don't get to go?" She watched him, becoming fascinated with his attention and how skilfully he handled the plane, though this was the first time that she had ever sat up in the pilot area. Her eyes slowly drifted from watching him to looking at all the different buttons, knobs and such.

"Well, it makes me feel less useful." Murdock admitted, as he banked a little to the right. "I don't get mad, if that's what you mean, and I certainly don't hold grudges."

She nodded, "I understand." She sat back and watched out her side, her eyes following the changing scenery below them as it went from flat green land to mountains then desert and into mountains again. The hum of the engines was becoming relaxing and almost hypnotic. After a while she sighed, "It really is another world up here." She was getting a much different perspective by being in the front of the plane, she found it neat as they flew into a thick bank of clouds.

Murdock didn't even attempt to hold back. "_A whole new world! A dazzling place I never knew! But when I'm way up here, it's crystal-clear, that now I'm in a whole new world with you!_"

She laughed shaking her head slowly, "I walked right into that one didn't I." She mused and then blinked at the fact snow was slowly beginning to build alone the edges of the window, "Um… you've flown in a snow storm before right?" Surely he had, why had she even asked such a question? This man had probably flown in the worst conditions imaginable.

"Yes, but not in a plane that's not really equipped for it." Murdock said, trying not to let the sudden hot sickening lurch in his stomach flow into his words. He attempted to find the edges of the clouds, but it was too late. The plane wasn't designed to fly that high, so he couldn't go above the storm. And at this point, he couldn't go round it. "You may want to head into the back and see if there's some sweaters handy," he warned her, "it may get a little chilly in here soon."

"Okay." She stood and moved carefully into the back, "I don't see any sweaters but there's some blankets." She called up and grabbed them bringing them up with her. She got almost back to the cockpit when the plane made a shuddering movement causing her to lose her footing and stumble backwards, "What the hell was that?"

"Technical term escapes me, but the wind doesn't." Murdock said, glancing back at her for a moment. "Forget the blankets. Grab the parachutes. We're bailing out, because I can see the ground from here, but I can't see the mountains in front of me."

"We're what!" She blinked and looked around, "Um… what parachutes?" This wasn't good, "Can you land this thing maybe?" It was a thought even though she had no clue at all if it was possible or not as she swallowed back the fear that was crawling up her spine, "I'm not finding any parachutes Murdock." Certainly there would be some right?

"Oh, not good. Very not good. Very bad." Murdock groaned. "Then haul the blankets up here and grab your stomach, because this isn't going to be pretty."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **All A-Team characters and concepts belong to their respective owners, not us. We do not claim any ownership, nor do we earn any profit, from these works.

**Note: ** Part of the _Not Over Yet_ universe, but not a fixed event.

* * *

He banked nearly sideways in an attempt to circle downward. It wouldn't affect him - he'd had worse in dogfights - but he doubted Sosa had done so.

She swallowed hard and did as he said, strapping herself in tightly and hanging on, "Great." She closed her eyes and gripped her seat tight.

Murdock did his best to keep the plane steady, and as they went lower the snowstorm gradually lessened. However, when it was clear enough to see, the pilot realized that they were too low to go through the mountains. With a sigh, he located a flat stretch of empty space - what little there was - and made a rather bumpy landing.

She made a few uncomfortable gasps and dropped a swear word here and there as they made the bumpy landing. Once she felt like she wasn't moving any longer she slowly opened her eyes and looked at him and then out the windows in front of them, "Any idea where the hell we are?" All she could see was white, mountains, trees and clouds that seemed to go on forever.

"Somewhere in the middle of the Sierra Nevada." Murdock said, looking at his display. "Temperature outside right now is higher than up there in the snowstorm - this is a small protected valley. We can take off when the storm clears, we've got more than enough fuel...but snowstorms here can last for days."

She frowned, "And I assume the storm has killed any chance of using the radio?" She was worried now as she handed him a blanket and stood, "Well we better assess what we've got for survival purposes." She moved to the back of the small plane and began to look through all the compartments.

Murdock nodded and went with her to take stock. "Just like North Korea. Only hopefully a lot less of the army looking for us here." he pointed out.

She nodded slowly, "Looks like we've got some water and crackers…" She quirked a brow at him, "Just who did you steal this plane from anyways?" She was trying to hunt down a first aid kit just in case, plus most of them tended to come with thermal blankets now days, "Well let's just hope we can get out of here before the guys get back from their adventure."

"It was on a rural airstrip. Borrowed it from a farmer - I have every intention of giving it back." Murdock said stubbornly. "And they'll be back in a week."

"Well hopefully we aren't stuck here that long." She sat back on the floor of the plane and rested her back against its side, "So what shall we do to pass the time?"

"Well, this plane should serve as a decent base." Murdock said. "I wouldn't recommend staying here the whole time, because it doesn't have a bathroom and we'd go stir-crazy."

"Agreed." She chuckled and stretched her legs out, crossing them at the ankles. She looked around and fidgeted a little with the gold chain around her neck. Since their last group adventure she had kept the wedding ring, but wore it around her neck on said chain.

"I'm going to go out and look around a bit." Murdock said after a few moments of silence, as he stood and went for the door. Outside was warm, but not uncomfortably so. There was no snow down here - the pressure difference had made his ears pop violently as they had descended - and he could see walls of mountains around them.

She sighed and stood following him out and looking around a little as well, "Are you okay?" She realized that this was the first time the two of them had been alone together without Face or one of the others, it was weird to say the least.

"Of course not. I'm crazy." Murdock said cheerfully, and then shook his head. "Actually, I'm not that worried about me. Emergency landings and days of hoping the weather clears? I'm just happy it's not pouring rain, because that would affect us, even down here. We might be flooded out." he warned.

"If you're worrying about me, don't. I'll be fine, I can handle the situation. Plus I trust you and you certainly won't let anything happen to me." She stated as she turned slowly to take everything in, "It is nice up here." She took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air and slowly exhaled.

He paused for a moment to think about that, then chuckled. "Fair enough. Listen, we should get some firewood and bring it back here. We have two main jobs: wood and water, and making sure we can use the plane to sleep in. If you can find some supplies out here, I'll rig up the plane with thermal and regular blankets so that it stays warm at night and we don't have to make our own tents."

"So gather firewood. Got it." She headed out, making sure to keep the plane within her view at all times so she could find her way back and not get lost. She managed to get a pretty good pile of wood and brought it back. She began to build the fire placing some rocks around the edges to keep it contained, "Think we'll get bothered by any wildlife?"

"Probably not. Most animals here will have been scared off by the noisy plane. Besides, look." he pulled out some bins from the inside. "No wonder the farmer was so pissed off at me. Look at all the fresh food he was going to bring to the market!"

She grinned, "We'll pay him back for his losses." She promised, "And how did I miss all of that?" She stood having gotten the fire going good and wandered over to examine the contents of the bins with him, "We'll just chalk this up to a spontaneous camping trip."

"They were under these." Murdock pointed to the make-shift walls he'd created inside the plane. Heaps of blankets, thin and thick, with a thermal blanket lining the floor and things stuffed into the ceiling to make sure heat couldn't escape. "We'll be toasty in here."

"You're really good at that. Actually you all are… I take it you guys have gotten stuck in a lot of similar situations?" She never had, she had started basic training like everyone else, had a few months in the field but when the opportunity for a desk job came up she took it, well her Father had strongly suggested she take it. He hadn't wanted his little girl out in the field getting shot at or worse. But despite being a paper pusher she wasn't without basic survival knowledge and a few extra tricks of the trade.

"When you're a Ranger, you treat every situation as though your life depended on it, so that when it does, you're able to stay calm and focus on what needs to be done." Murdock said with a little smile, coming down to help her with the firewood, bringing down food.

"What is it like?" She looked at him seriously, "To live like that? To always be on the edge." It was a foreign concept to her, well maybe not as foreign as it once was but still a bit unfamiliar. She had only gotten tastes of it recently since getting re-involved with Face and in result becoming an extension of the Team. A part of her hungered for adventure, it was why she had been so adamant about chasing them all down when they had escaped.

"Makes you wonder how they all stay sane, doesn't it?" he chuckled. "Ol' Murdock's been crazy since forever, so he can take it, no problem."

"No. Actually it explains why you all are… well, the way you are." She had read their files, she knew them like the back of her hand anymore, "I have to ask, are you really… crazy?" She wasn't completely comfortable with asking, but she did wonder and she was sure he figured she did.

"'Course I am!" he said cheerfully, waving his fingers round his temples to indicate. "Completely mad! Barking, you might say!" he let out a few growls and ruffs, before laughing again.

Of course he didn't give a straight answer. She smiled and chuckled as well, "Alright then." She said giving a nod of approval, "And honestly I wouldn't want you any other way." She had seen him be serious a few select times and she didn't care for it much, in fact it was more worrisome than when he was acting way off his rocker, "I should get you a copy of your Military files. They're quite the read, almost like you wrote them yourself. Very cryptic and mysterious."

"Oh, that'd be a wonderful gift. Maybe I could frame my first "deemed certifiably insane" certificate." he grinned to himself. That would be one hell of a thing to hang on a wall. "Here. Do you have any matches? Or a lighter? I couldn't find them on the plane."

She chuckled, "Alright. It's a deal; your Christmas present will be easy then. It's the others that are going to be hard to buy for." She pulled out the pack of matches she had found on the plane, "I found them actually…" She gave him a sheepish look.

"Oh! And you've been keeping them from me all this time, bad girl." Murdock said sternly, teasing with a smile as he counted them. "One dozen matches. Are there more?"

"It's fun to be bad." She said with a small wink, "I don't remember seeing any. I can look though." She moved towards the plane and slipped inside and hunted around, "Hmm. Nope. That's all we got." She said disappointedly as she emerged.

"Damn." Murdock shook his head. "We'll have to make them last. Hopefully it doesn't rain and we can just keep it going on and on. You brought a lot of wood," he observed, "so that's good."

"I'm good at gathering." She mused, "My Dad used to take me on retreats with him and his troop all the time. I became the designated wood gatherer. It kept me out of trouble and out of their hair." She settled down on the ground near the fire and poked it a little before adding some more kindling as it was looking a little sad.

Murdock slipped the matches into his own pocket and sat down, rubbing his hands over the fire. "It's fine now but it'll get cooler as the evening comes. As long as we all stay dry we should be fine."

She glanced up, the sky was cloudy, "Yeah here's hoping." Suddenly she had an idea about what they could use to cook their food, "I'll be right back." A few moments later she emerged with a couple of bras, "I can get the wire out of these and we can make sis kabobs." She sat down and began to tear the lining of one of the bras.

Murdock raised an eyebrow and coughed delicately into his hand. At least she had the decency not to lift up her shirt and use the one she was wearing. Not that he was like Face and jumped anything with a skirt and decent legs, but...he _was _a man, and it made his cheeks go slightly pink when she pushed one into his hands and told him to get it open.

Once she had gotten the wire out of the one she was working on she sat the ruined item aside and flattened the wire out before putting one end into the flames, "Just precaution. Don't need us getting sick." She commented before pulling it back letting the end cool before grabbing some vegetables and sliding them on. She did her best to ignore the fact she had made him uncomfortable figuring it would be easier on him if attention wasn't drawn.

Murdock did his best to get the wire out of the bra without looking as though he was manhandling it. He was relieved when he was finished, handed her the fabric, and sterilized the ends. "See your point." he nodded, taking some food for himself.

"Shame there isn't any marsh mellows." She mused, trying to lighten the mood and change the subject as she turned her food over the fire and watched it cook, "You know despite the circumstances this is nice, I've never really gotten to be one on one with any of you… well I sort of did with B.A. in Las Vegas but B.A. is well, B.A. after all."

Murdock grinned at that. "B.A. is just one big angry mudsucker, but he's good to his friends." he scratched his head slightly before settling down again. "We should have a cooking show!"

"Yup." She said with a nod to his comment about B.A., "And um… you'd win. Hands down, I'm not a very good cook. I can scramble an egg; make toast, grilled cheese sandwiches and mac n cheese. That is the extent of my culinary abilities. " She eyed the fire and the vegetables she was currently holding over it, "Well and add improvising to that list now apparently."

"Improvising is what counts the most!" he admonished her. "Anybody can read a recipie and stumble through it."

"Not everyone." She blushed a little, "I tried to cook once for Face… from a cookbook and yeah, it had disastrous results. I almost burned down his apartment at the time. So I hate to tell you this but for the holidays Murdock, you are doing all the cooking." She teased lightly, "I'll bring the rolls." She removed her stick from the flames and looked her veggies over, "Looks good to me." She took a careful bite after blowing on them for a moment and made an Mmm sound.

"Is it any good?" Murdock asked, before trying a little of his own. "Hmm, mine's a little burnt. Won't leave it in so long next time."

"Tastes good to me. Could use a little salt and pepper, but since we're in the middle of nowhere I'm not complaining over the lack of spices." She nibbled carefully, "So do you think in the morning we'll be able to get this bird up and going again?" She was hopeful.

"Maybe." he pointed to the raging snowstorm hundreds of feet above them. "If that's gone."

She nodded and finished eating in silence. The air began to get colder and she grabbed one of the blankets and wrapped it around her, pulling her knees up to her chest. It could be worse she decided, they could've crashed, "So now what?" She asked after a few moments, she wasn't feeling sleepy yet and she didn't care much for long bouts of silence.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **All A-Team characters and concepts belong to their respective owners, not us. We do not claim any ownership, nor do we earn any profit, from these works.

**Note: ** Part of the _Not Over Yet_ universe, but not a fixed event.

* * *

"We stoke the fire a little more," Murdock nodded, adding more wood and sitting back with another blanket of his own. "We'll sleep in shifts tonight, to keep it going until morning."

"Alright. If you're tired go for it." She offered and looked up watching as a patch of the night sky peeked at them through the clouds, "I need to get out in nature more often." She commented, "I miss seeing the stars like that." She frowned a little as the clouds closed back up swallowing the sight.

"Come out to the airfields more." Murdock smiled as he went up the small fold-down stairs to the plane. "You can see everything."

"I'll have to." She smiled at him over her shoulder before turning back to look at the fire. She ended up having to add an extra blanket as she sat there, but it wasn't a bad experience. A few times she heard something, saw beady eyes staring at her from the trees nearby but it turned out to be some deer passing through and nothing more. She felt herself growing sleepy after a couple of hours but fought it; Murdock needed his rest more than she did.

Murdock only woke up once in the middle of his sleep-shift. He was warm, swathed in a nest of blankets and walls close. It was actually quite toasty in the enclosed space, and he stretched as he sat up to check the time on the dash of the plane.

It was becoming a losing battle and when she heard movement coming from the plane she sighed and stood, "I tried to hold out longer…" She admitted with some disappointment in her tone, "Sorry."

"That's all right." Murdock waved down to her before coming out, one warm blanket in tow. "It's like an oven in there, don't worry about freezing." he joked, almost fully awake as he went to tend the fire.

"Alright." She smiled and once he was out she climbed inside, "Here you might want these." She tossed the two blankets out she had been using and curled up. At first she found herself staring up at the ceiling of the plane, it was hard for her to actually go to sleep anymore even when she was worn and tired such as now. After a while her mind relented to her body and she drifted deep.

Murdock left the fire only for a quick break, and then returned. He could hear her moving around inside the plane and shrugged - maybe she was taking her time getting to sleep? He settled, blankets wrapped around him, and added more logs to the fire until it burned brightly

Being extremely tired made the nightmares worse, more real. They were the same, her team being killed; Murdock on that boat blowing up and now added was seeing Face get shot in Vegas. It was piling up, the things that haunted her, worried her. She shifted in her sleep, mumbling, a small bit of sweat breaking out across her forehead as she tried to pull out of the nightmares that only seemed to drag her into a deeper state of sleep. It was like trying to fight to the surface of the water during a bad storm, "No… don't…" Her movements became a little more violent.

The plane began to rock dangerously and Murdock sprang to his feet, dumping the blankets in a heap away from the fire. "Sosa? Captain?" he went for the door and pulled it open.

All these things had turned out okay for the most part, but her mind twisted them, changed them into negative outcomes. She couldn't save any of them, protect them and it drove her mad within her own mind. Problem was, her worst fear was the reality she was refusing to acknowledge, the truth being she couldn't protect them forever no matter how hard she tried. Hearing the door open brought her up and out of it with startling results as she gasped for air and held a hand to her chest, trying to regain a normal heart rate, "Is everything okay?" She looked worried, afraid… more so than she should.

"Charissa?" he resorted to her first name as he held her shoulders, staring into her eyes, more worried than he'd thought possible. "Is everything okay?" he repeated, still trying to get a response out of her.

She blinked, he never used her first name… it was odd; "I'm okay." She swallowed hard, her throat dry and feeling like it was full of cotton balls. She closed her eyes tight a moment and then opened them wide, "I'm sorry." She pushed her hair back from her face and let out a long shaky breath.

"You look like you're gonna be sick! Are you sure?" Murdock bit his lip, still not letting go of her shoulders. As if, when he let go, she would be swept away by a raging sea.

She closed her eyes again and frowned, "Not gonna be sick… I don't think." She had a strong stomach for the most part. She kept taking deep breathes until she felt normal and relaxed, the tenseness leaving her body, "I'm good." She nodded and then mumbled something under her breath that sounded like "fucking bad dreams".

Murdock was patient, but not that patient. "If I let you go, are you gonna shake the plane apart again? Nuh-uh, Charissa, you gotta tell me what's going on."

Face she could lie to, or just tell him she didn't want to talk about it and he'd let it go for the most part… Murdock however she had a feeling there was no getting around him. She sighed and sat up more, scooting back until she was against the side of the plane, "Just dreams, memory relapses… I've seen some pretty messed up stuff the last few months and it's not letting go. Or my mind isn't letting it go." She admitted slowly to him.

Murdock nodded equally slowly. "I got the same kind of thing. Used to wake up screamin', shakin' so hard I'd fall out of bed. Wake up on the floor, like a cocoon." he lifted one shoulder. "They think all their therapy failed because I'm still crazy, but it helped with the stuff that was actually bad."

She was beginning to understand and feel more for those Soldiers who had flashbacks, who were mentally unstable because of the terrible things they had seen. She looked at Murdock steadily, her eyes different… empty almost, "I really don't want to talk to some stranger about my issues, about what I've seen. And some of it well, I can't talk about anyways." She pulled her knees up against her, wrapping her arms around her legs, "How do you do it? How do you keep from just really loosing it? How do you stop it?"

"Then talk about it with somebody who knows." Murdock suggested. "Talk about it with...me. If you tell me about your demons, I'll share some of mine, and then I'll tell you how I keep 'em sleepin'."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **All A-Team characters and concepts belong to their respective owners, not us. We do not claim any ownership, nor do we earn any profit, from these works.

**Note: ** Part of the _Not Over Yet_ universe, but not a fixed event.

* * *

Charissa nodded slowly, "This isn't going to be easy for me… I'm not exactly good on the show and tell front. I keep things to myself well, especially my feelings so…" She stopped, realizing she was rambling and trying to get around what she knew she needed to do, "I've seen people shot before, but to see someone die on your watch when you're supposed to be protecting them and ensuring that they'll make it home to their families… I've never been there until Korea." She winced a little curling tighter, "When I got back I had to tell their families that they had died, that I had watched them get shot and killed and it was my fault. I don't think I've ever felt hate before like that, the way their families looked at me it made me feel like I had killed them myself. I can still see their eyes, their dead empty eyes." She shivered. After a moment or two she continued telling him about the torture she had received from Face's psycho ex then explaining the guilt she felt for what happened to him in Acapulco, and Face getting shot in Vegas.

Murdock listened to it all as though he were a sponge absorbing water. That was half the battle, knowing was a key on how to deal with things. Was it images, sounds, and smells, there were different techniques for suppressing things but that wasn't his plan. Suppressing things made them come out in nightmares and it didn't work for long.

When she had finished it felt like some of the weight was gone, lifted from her. Her chest felt less tight, she could breathe easier and slowly she relaxed and uncurled from herself and looked at him, "You're the only person who knows any of this. Face doesn't even know how all of this has gotten to me, he worries about enough I don't need to add my mental status to his plate so if you could keep this between us…"

"Doctor-patient confidentiality." Murdock said seriously, in an oddly nasal accent. "Don't worry - I would never go blabbin', that's just not what I do." he said, still serious but less stiff.

She smiled, "It's greatly appreciated. Though knowing him he probably suspects something is up, but unless he asks I'm keeping quiet." She looked the Captain over, "And you're right, talking helps. I feel like a weight has been lifted off me."

"Good." Murdock nodded. "Now, there's all sorts of expensive therapies you could go to. Dream control. Hypnosis. Trained suppression. But those things don't deal with the issues, they just try to lock 'em away and that doesn't work when you're unconscious unless you've had years of training. And even then it doesn't actually ease the stuff."

She nodded, "Yeah and all that stuff I don't have time for either. So what do you do? What's your method of dealing with shit like this?" She stretched her legs out, her arms folding as she leaned back, much more relaxed and at ease than she had been moments ago.

"It's kind of like manipulation, it's a form of dealing without pushing stuff aside, but without having to confront it with your hands empty." he pointed out. "See, when you've got memories in dreams, there's two kinds of events: negotiable and non-negotiable. In a nightmare, everything is a Non. What we do is start moving things slowly out of the Non category and into the negotiable stuff."

Murdock was becoming more than mere comic relief in her mind, he was becoming something she could rely on. Someone to trust, to talk to when she couldn't talk to anyone else. It was weird, she'd never pictured him in such a light but here he was offering her help a lifeline to deal with the dark chaos that had been her mind lately, "So replace the bad with the good basically?" She questioned.

"Yeah. Every time you get the dream, you change one little thing. One at a time. You can't change the biggest Nons - like the event why it happened in the first place, that's suppression and that doesn't work." he reasoned.

She pursed her lips, her features becoming full of focus and determination, "Alright." She would do this; she could do this, "I'm sure it's safe to assume this isn't going to be easy?" This conversation was explaining a lot to her about Murdock that no Doctor would ever get about the man, he had reasons for being like he was and she respected that immensely.

"Nope." he shook his head. "But it's easier than dealing with a lifetime of nightmares. Me, I got this old one from when I was a kid and the bullies beat me at school...now they're all wearing pink tutus and singing _Three Little Maids From School Are We_."

She laughed, "Nice." That was an amusing mental image, as she thought of the stereotypical school yard bully in a pink tutu, "This will help when I don't have… um, alternative coping mechanisms." She began to work on a list in her head of things she could replace the bad stuff with.

"It's surprisingly easy to put a dream on pause, too." Murdock suggested, glancing back at the fire. It had been a while, and it had died down a little, but it certainly was in no danger of going out.

"Really? Wait, I think I've heard of that… isn't it called lucid dreaming?" She sat forward, "You've really dealt with and seen a lot of bad things haven't you." Concern crossed her eyes as she looked at the Pilot.

He gave her a vague, sad little smile. If he told her what he still saw, the screaming nightmares that he could not change, she might go as crazy as him and that wouldn't do anyone any good.

She didn't want to know what he saw, she had enough to deal with and she hoped her own omissions didn't add to his. She shifted a little, "I need to walk around a bit." She decided and slowly slipped past him and climbed out of the plane and stood looking up at the sky, "I think it's starting to clear, I see stars." She commented, shivering slightly as her body registered the temperature difference between inside the plane and out of it.

"I'm going back to sleep for a bit. You wake me up when you're ready to drop off." Murdock nodded to her, closing the door behind her.

She stood there for a moment or two longer just staring up at the sky before moving and taking care of the fire. Once she was satisfied with how it looked she settled down next to it and wrapped some blankets around her again. She was going to be okay, she felt a little less lonely in the world now for lack of a better way to think about it. She felt lucky to know someone like Murdock and never planned on taking his friendship for granted ever.

He was woken up by light coming in through the plane's windows. Confused, he poked his head outside. "Sosa?" the fire was still going strong. "Sosa, where are you?"

She had gone off to take care of the call of nature and grab some more firewood. She emerged on the right of the plane from the forest and moved forward, "Right here. You okay?" She sat the branches down and moved closer to the plane.

"Oh there you are." he came down and looked up at the sky. "It's clearing, but we should wait to see if it clears up fully before we even think about leaving."

"Didn't mean to scare you." She nodded glancing up, "Yeah, no reason to get up there and just have to come right back down again. Next time I promise I'll check the weather reports before I call you for a lift." She joked a little.

Murdock grinned. "It's all right." he said, as he came bearing some more food to be cooked. His stomach growled. "Freak swirling snowstorms over the mountains? Happens more often than you'd think."

"Apparently." She chuckled and helped him with the food, "Well at least you got to have an adventure since you didn't get to go with the guys." She smiled at him, "And here's hoping they don't get back early and find you missing…" She hadn't thought of that until now and she wondered if it had crossed his mind at all.

"Nah, I still have this." he picked up his cell phone, which he'd just turned on. "I'm still getting a signal, even though it's weak. No missed calls. Check yours, maybe it's better."

She hadn't thought of that. She pulled out both of her cells and eyed them, "Go figure. The one Face got me gets better signal than my regular one. How messed up is that?" She said with laugh, shaking her head, "Nothing missed here either."

"Then I guess nobody loves us. Boo hoo." Murdock winked, offering her some kebab.

"Aww, I love you Murdock." She smiled, giving him a quick one armed hug before taking the kebab, "Thanks." As she ate she wondered idly if he could be considered what most would call a best friend, she had never really had one before. In truth she didn't have many friends or people she was extremely close to. Really all she had was Face and the other guys, well and her Father but he was just there anymore she couldn't talk to him or laugh with him.

"Aww, thanks, I love y'all too." Murdock squeezed her in return, eating his own. He grinned. "Hey listen, when we get to civilization, I'm gonna need to borrow Face's computer to get everything on my new iPod. Think we can distract him long enough?"

She laughed, "I think it can be arranged." She said with a smirk, "He won't let you use it regularly?" She arched a brow; maybe she could change the status quo concerning the laptop for the Pilot.

Murdock pouted. "Every time I try to open up the internet browser, it goes directly to a bunch of porn sites and I nearly have a heart attack."

She rolled her eyes shaking her head slowly before giving him a small dark and evil sort of look, "Well we'll have to see about fixing that little problem." Her tone meant business, "Or at least get you your own sign on anyways. Because unless I move to LA or he relocates to D.C. latter of which is not even possible then he's going to need his… addictions."

"I don't think it's that, if he wanted normal stuff he'd call you. It's all...nurses and French maids and...weird Japanese stuff that screamed at me until I shut the lid."

"Really." She cleared her throat, "I might have to have a little chit chat with him, though I'll try to use his computer and make it seem like I found it on my own so you don't get blamed for telling me." She had a look in her eyes that spelled trouble for the Lieutenant in capital letters.

Murdock shivered slightly and grinned. "Aww, that's mighty kind of you." he stretched, finishing his breakfast. Continually looking up at the sky, he walked a full circle around the plane and began a pre-flight inspection.

"Oh don't mention it." She stood and cleaned up the area little but waiting on putting the fire out until she was sure they were going to leave, "Plus I'll admit I've been looking for an excuse to play the wife card on him just to see how he reacts to it." She said with a mischievous grin, "How's it looking Captain?"

"Looking just fine, Captain." he shot back, smiling at her under a wing. "We'll be ready to go in an hour, if the weather continues to clear.

"Excellent." She gave him a small salute and kept the fire going then, adding to it a little before going over to the plane and beginning to help him get stuff back inside of it properly.

Murdock was folding all the blankets and keeping an eye on the sky. "I still need to return this plane later, but I don't have to go through the mountains again. Next time I'm borrowing a 747."

"Oh that will be interesting." She mused, "Flight control will just love you." It passed the time to get stuff put back into place, "I'll take care of the farmer, now that I'm back on the job again." She promised with a small smile, "Speaking of which, I may be calling on you a little more often when I want to come out this way so you might want to look into that 747 actually."

"I'll try and get a day job." Murdock joked as he settled into the pilot's seat and turned all the engines on. It thrummed to life around him, comfortable, settling into a low growling purr, like a barely-tamed tigress.

"I just can't picture you with a day job… what would you do?" She questioned as she made sure she was strapped in good, a little nervous but mostly hoping that they could get to L.A. now without any other hindrances.

"Fly." he spread his arms and flapped with a grin before holding the throttle. As he taxied and slowly sped up, he watched the sky open above them, clouds parting for the clear blue.

"I should've known that…" She shook her head, "Flying is your one true love isn't it." She asked with a small smile as the clouds seemed to just move out of the way for them as though he had some kind of rapport with them.

Murdock barely heard her. He was humming a little tune under his breath, already happy in his own little world.

"_And love it seems  
made flying dreams  
to bring you home  
to me_."

* * *

Be sure to read the continuing adventures of the A-Team! In case you're wondering, the song is Kenny Loggin's _Flying Dreams_ and can be found as part of the soundtrack for the movie _The Secret of N.I.M.H._


End file.
